Hair dressing method



HAIR DRESSING METHOD David R. Schwarz, Larchmont, N.Y., assignor, bymesne assignments, to Schwartz Bio Research, Inc., Mount Vernon, N.Y., acorporation of New York No Drawing. Filed Apr. 24, 1958, Ser. No.730,520 Claims. (Cl. 167-87) Many substances have been used or suggestedto improve the attractiveness of tonsorial arrangement of humans andeven of pets and show animals. Manageability of the hair has become animportant cosmetic consideration, especially in recent years.

Products for the purpose that include oils and .fats, with or withoutadditives to aid their emulsion in water, natural or synthetic gums,protein or polypeptide solutions in water, and various syntheticpolymers such as polyvinyl pyrrolidones have certain objections as willnow be briefly indicated.

Oil or fat based preparations, with or without additives, are generallycharacterized by imparting an unpleasant greasy appearance and unctuousfeel to the coiffure and are moreover subject to rancidity andconsequent objectionable odor; furthermore upon contact with garmentsand furniture, they may lead to staining and for many persons may createadded cosmetic problems associated with a natural oily scalp condition.

Aqueous solutions of natural gums and proteins when applied to thecoiffure tend to form on drying, brittle films which render the hairstiff and unnatural in appearance, and frequently tend to flake off onthe clothes when brushing or combing the hair.

Synthetic materials, particularly those which may be applied by sprayare subject to an important objection in addition to those recitedabove, namely that inhalation of the volatile spray or solvent mayproduce chronic toxic effects. Such preparations may also beinflammable, causing additional serious hazard in use.

Some or all of the preparations noted tend to retain static electricityupon combing and brushing, resulting in mutual repulsion and disarray ofthe coiffure.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide a hair dressingpreparation in the form of an aqueous solution which greatly improvesthe manageability of hair on humans or pets and show animals for longperiods of time, without rendering the hair greasy or stilf, Withoutflaking off or in any wise impairing the natural texture or theappearance on feel imparted to the coiflure by the preparation.

It is another object to provide a hair dressing preparation, the mainoperative ingredient of which is a natural product known to be existentin all living animal tissue, which is completely odorless, which is notsubject to disarray of the coiifure, as for instance by static uponcombing and brushing and which may be readily removed, if desired, bysimple mild shampoo.

The invention in its broadest aspects, resides in the surprisingdiscovery that dilute water solution of nucleic acid, when applied totonsorial hair, imparts to the coiffure a natural well groomedappearance with a total absence of greasiness or stiffness, withoutflaking off, and Which preparation maintains the hair against disarrayeither due to static upon combing or brushing, or due to breeze, thecoifiure giving no evidence by appearance, odor or otherwise of anycosmetic aid to its natural well groomed appearance.

2,960,44 Patented Nov. 15, 1960 The precise scientific explanation ofthis surprising effect is not understood by me, but is believed to berelated to the fact that nucleic acids are relatively large elongatedmolecules containing many functional groups such as HO 0 NH2, OH, =0, P

and that such molecules can readily form oriented thin As conductive toa clearer understanding of this invention, it is noted that there aretwo general types of nucleic acids: Ribonucleic acid (RNA) consistingprimarily of the basic ribonucleosides, adenosine, guanosine, cytosine,and uridine linked together through phosphate ester bridges; anddeoxyribonucleic acid (NDA) in which the structure is broadly similarbut the sugar deoxyribose replaces ribose in the nucleoside, and thenucleoside uridine is replaced by its methylated homologue thymidine.

RNA is found in all living tissue, chiefly in the c-ytoplasm andnon-nuclear particulate forms within the cell and various forms of thesame have been used for human nutrition, more especially as tonics, andfortherapy, particularly in European countries. RNA is recovered fromahnost any living cell, but yeast is a preferred commercial source byreason of its ready availability and low cost.

DNA is found principally in the nuclear structure of all livin cells andis most readily recovered on a commercial scale from certain animalglands, particularly the thymus gland, and from the sperm or milt ofcertain fish.

Each type of nucleic acid has characteristic physicochemical properties,but for the purposes of this invention they are consideredinterchangeable as both are highly effective in improving themanageability of tonsorial hair.

In one embodiment of this invention, a water solution containing byweight from 0.1 to 5% nucleic acid but preferably between 0.5 and 2% isprepared by neutralizing a water suspension of nucleic acid with anappropriate amount of dilute alkali, preferably NaOH or KOH until thenucleic acid is substantially dissolved and a pH between 5.0 and 9.0,preferably between 6.0 and 8.0 is obtained. To this may be added anapproved preservative to prevent bacterial growth, and if desired, otheringredients such as perfumes and perfume fixing bases to enhance theproduct appeal. The solution is clarified by filtration and packaged asdesired in any convenient manner.

More particularly, the aqueous solutions as thus far described, may beadmixed with other conventional ingredients of known hair dressingpreparations, to the exclusion of course of those ingredients that areobjectionable as above pointed out, and that are replaced by the nucleicacid component of the essence of the present invention.

The amount of nucleic acid solution applied to the hair in any givencase, will, of course, depend on the individual tonsorial condition,such as the thickness of growth, caliper, length and natural curl.

The solutions may be applied by aqueous spray, or by moistening the combor brush and combing or brushing it into the hair, or with a moistenedapplicator pad or the hands. Preferably the hair should be set orotherwise manipulated into its desired final arrangement while stilldamp with the solution. After the solution has dried the hair retainsits manageability and may be repeatedly redampened with water withoutdiminishing the effectiveness of the dressing. The oriented thin film ofthe nucleic acid whidh forms around the otherwise rather inert hairfilament of keratin, tends to dissipate or prevent the formation of thestatic electric charge commonly encountered when dry hair is combed,brushed or otherwise manipulated. It would appear, though theexplanation is purely tentative, that this static dissipation is due tothe functional groups available on the nucleate films.

Although it is believed that the foregoing complies with the statutoryrequirements, some specific examples are recited below by way ofillustration and are not to be construed as limiting in any way thebroad application of this invention.

Example I Commercial ribonucleic acid is wetted with approximately anequal weight of suitable alcohol, desirably ethyl alcohol, which may beof the relatively low priced denatured formula 3A.

The thus wetted mass is then slun'ied by gradual addition of about 20%by weight of tap water. To this suspension is added approximately 20% byweight of 2 N NaOH which causes all of the nucleic acid to dissolve andresults in a pH of approximately 8.5. To this solution may be addedabout 20% by weight of a commercial aromatic essence, diluted with about4 times the amount of alcohol used for the original wetting, such addedalcohol serving as an aid in preserving. The entire solution is fileredbrilliant and then diluted with tap water in amount approximately fivetimes the total volume of the mix and is then packaged, desirably inplastic spray bottles of 100 ml. or four fluid ounces each.

Male and female users of the preparation applied from such bottle allreported the following eflfects: (a) hair easier to manage afterWashing; (b) hair stays much longer in place after combing or brushing;and (c) hair much less affected than normally by wind or strong drafts.The female users also reported that the hair held its set for longperiods of time.

Example II Commercial sodium ribonucleate is made into a solutionadjusted to pH 8.0 in manner similar to that described in Example I, inthis case Without the need for wetting the mass with alcohol. To this isadded enough sodium ethyl mercurithiosalicylate as preservative, toprovide a final concentration of 1210000 and the solution is dilutedwith tap water as in Example I but in less amount to p'ovidesubstantially a 2% solution of nucleic acid. The solution is filteredbrilliant and packaged in plastic spray bottles of approximately 100 ml.each. Users reported effects substantially the same as those of ExampleI, and no objectionable odor, though essence or perfume was not includedin the preparation.

Example III Deoxyribonucleic acid from fish sperm is made up with tapwater to substantially a concentration of 0.5% nucleic acid afterprevious adjustment to pH 6.5 with 2 N KOH and addition of .05 percentof chlorobutanol as a preservative. The solution is filtered brilliantand packaged in spray bottles. When applied by running a comb wettedwith the solution through the hair until thehair was uniformly dampened,the coift'ure is found to stay in place without further attention for anentire day during normal activity. In this case also, users reportedsubstantially the same utility of the preparation as set forth inExamples I and II.

Example IV Deoxyribonucleic acid is neutralized with 1 N NaOH to pH 7.5and diluted substantially as in Example I to concentration of 0.1% ofnucleic acid. Enough sorbic acidis added as preservative to make thesolution concentration 0.1% withrespeot to this ingredient. The solutionis filtered, packaged in spray bottles and tested on human subjects in amanner similar to the above examples with substantially the sameresults.

4 Example V A 5% solution of commercial ribonucleic acid preserved with0.1% sodium benzoate is made up and tested in a similar manner as theother examples, and yields substantially the same results.

A typical formulation of hair dressing solution according to theinvention may have the following composition by weight:

25 parts-3A alcohol.

7 .5 parts-sodium nucleate.

200 parts--water.

0.25 parts of polyoxyethylene sorbitan monooleate, one

commercial brand of which is sold under the trademark Tween 80.

1.8 parts 1 N NaOH.

1.0 part-dhlorobutanol.

0.5 parts-can de cologne concentrate.

Mixed thoroughly, filtered with filter aid and diluted to a total of 500parts.

It will be understood from the foregoing examples that the particulardilutions and proportions of components of the preparation are by nomeans critical and may be varied widely, though the examples given arepractical for commercial purposes in that the drying of the preparationas applied to the coiffure will not be difficult and the film of nucleicacid that remains on the hair filaments will in each case bring aboutthe advantageous eliects above set forth.

While the invention was developed mainly for enhancing theattractiveness of tonsorial arrangements of humans and pets and showanimals, it may be applicable also for the treatment of pile fabricsincluding fur garments and the like.

As many changes could be made in the above hair dressing preparation,and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention couldbe made without departing from the scope of the claims, it is intendedthat all matter contained in the above description shall be interpretedas illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. The method of hair dressing which comprises applying to the coifinrea preparation containing nucleic acid as a principal ingredient thereof.

2. The method of hair dressing which comprises spraying upon thecoilfure a preparation containing as a. principal ingredient, a nucleicacid selected from the group ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acidin aqueous solution.

3. The method of claim 2 in which the nucleic acid is present at aconcentration of 0.1 to 5% by weight and the pH of the solution liesWithin the range 5.0 and 9.0.

4. The method of claim 2 in which the nucleic acid is derived from yeastand is present at a concentration by weight of 0.5 to 2% and the pH lieswithin the range 6.0 to 8.0.

5. The method of claim 2 in which the nucleic acid is derived'from thegroup consisting of fish sperm and animal glands and is present at aconcentration by weight 0.5 to 2% and the pH lies within the range 6.0to 8.0.

References Cited in the file-of this patent and Sons, Inc, N.Y., pp.1-3, 28 and 121-123.

Am. Professional Pharmacist, 20: 10, October 1954, pp.

Deakers: Drug and Cos. Ind., 40:2 February 1937, pp. 206-207.

1. THE METHOD OF HAIR DRESSING WHICH COMPRISES APPLYING TO THE COIFFUERA PREPARATION CONTAINING NUCLEIC ACID AS A PRINCIPAL INGREDIENT THEREOF.